The suburbs.

glennmagusharvey · 2011-05-02 16:28:00

When you live in suburban areas of the United States, you can't go anywhere by walking other than your own neighborhood. No shopping, restaurants, industries for employment, meatspace socializing opportunity, or even public transit, unless it's a very dense area like outer portions of New York City.

You have to drive. Which means that you have to have a car, have to use gasoline (unless you happen to have an electric vehicle), and have to be licensed (which also means you have to be old enough).

So if you happen to not have a car, or not be an adult, or unemployed and tight with gas money...well, just hope that your can stay in touch by phone and/or internet, and enjoy your time as a shut-in.

IanExMachina · 2011-05-02 16:31:51

Sounds like dodgy city planning.

Central Avenue · 2011-05-02 16:31:54

Oh, so agreed.

I'm almost 21 and I'm just now working on getting my license, but it's out of necessity instead of because I want to drive.

glennmagusharvey · 2011-05-02 16:34:21

I got my license at 19.

I'm like, yeah, I am doing this because I need to, not because I particularly care to drive. And it would be nice to have public transit everywhere but it really sucks that low population density makes that nearly impossible.

And then I started to ask, why the hell do we all need to have half-acre lawns and stuff.

Thorn14 · 2011-05-02 16:35:19

21 and I need to get my license. I hate driving and the free way scares the shit out of me.

I still like the relatively quiet life of suburbs though.

^ There are people like my parents who love taking care of their lawn. Its kinda like, I dunno, having a nice looking car.

GLORIOUSLeader · 2011-05-02 16:37:29

Obligatory.

glennmagusharvey · 2011-05-02 16:55:04

I think my mom takes care of the lawn out of necessity. She definitely doesn't enjoy it, but does it because my dad wouldn't do it. Yes, she mows the lawn.

She also doesn't want me to mow the lawn or something. It's that the procedure is complicated enough that she'd rather do it herself than have me do it with her directing me the whole way. That said I could probably do it if I wanted to, but...whatever.

snowbull · 2011-05-02 17:52:00

What kind of suburb doesn't have access to public transit?

All Nines · 2011-05-02 17:54:21

^^ Does your mom really think you're not competent enough to mow the lawn?

MousaThe14 · 2011-05-02 18:18:59

The heck kind of subway you livin' in? Sure it takes a while but the metro is like a short walk away and their metrobus signs are ubiquitous. Not ubiquitous enough but whatcha gonna do. Okay I get what you mean though, unless you know what you're doing once you start walking you just run into more suburb. But I guess where I live we're surrounded by shopping streets and one of the biggest malls in the US

B^)Ha ha ha)

CommandoDude · 2011-05-02 19:07:39

Ride a damn bike.

glennmagusharvey · 2011-05-02 19:19:05

^^ The heck kind of suburb you livin' in? Sure there's one measly shopping center with public bus stop near the center of town, which is like five miles away; you can take the bus but you'll have to go into the next town to take the bus and then have the bus loop around to the town to the south then walk then take another bus then walk then take a third bus. The nearest mall is one town to the south, which is over five miles away, and it's got so few people I can't believe it's still in business. I guess where I live is in the middle of nowhere despite being a town of 25,000 people just northeast of (and across the river from) the state capital and located between the state's main airport and major employers.

Old Saturn · 2011-05-02 20:45:28

I don't know what kind of suburb you live in GMH, but mine has plenty of places within walking distance, and plenty of restaurants, shops, etc.

snowbull · 2011-05-02 21:20:24

I think GMH just lives in an especially shitty one.

glennmagusharvey · 2011-05-02 21:55:38

Where I lived in Florida, it was slightly more dense (i.e. people's yards were much smaller, rather than having half-acre lots here), but you still needed a car to get anywhere. Heck, you'd need to walk pretty far to get to the community swimming pool/clubhouse/tennis courts. Well I guess you walk all the way past the community gate, to the elementary school and then the plaza (a.k.a. strip mall) that was beyond that, but...yeah.

The only good things about living there are:
* house was light-colored (inside and out), very bright, and had gorgeous high ceilings, as well as carpeting in most places
* I knew all the ways to dodge my parents' line of sight
* all my memories of growing up and high school are from there, from music lessons to high school crushes to arguments with my parents to the Pokémon craze to our pet turtle being shooed away from the carpet to a rich array of sights, smells, and sounds that I long for but can no longer experience.

*teardrop*

Nova · 2011-05-02 22:13:37

I live like, 400 metres from a movie theatre, an less than a mile from the CBD of my town.

Kinda sucks.

Schitzo · 2011-05-03 01:03:05

Seconding Ride a damn bike. Saves money, keeps you in relative shape, lets you avoid passerby etc

Nova · 2011-05-03 01:35:27

I do both. It's good exercise until somebody pops your tyres.

Central Avenue · 2011-05-03 01:43:44

There are actually a few stores nearby that are the perfect distance for biking, but to get there I'd have go through this one part where the road passes over a creek with no shoulders or sidewalks and no ground to stand on. It's a pretty busy road, too, and there's no "back way" the way the development is laid out.

Schitzo · 2011-05-03 02:12:06

Damn

Deboss · 2011-05-03 05:43:41

So we're all in agreement, the civil engineers must be wiped out and the group must be started over.

Nova · 2011-05-03 05:52:45

No.

Deboss · 2011-05-03 06:01:35

But they did such horrible jobs laying things out! Surely, as in all things, murder is the correct solution.

Nova · 2011-05-03 06:20:25

You forgot to factor in explosions, though. No plan is complete without a good explosion.

Deboss · 2011-05-03 07:44:37

Well, we need to destroy all that poorly laid out infrastructure anyway.

MousaThe14 · 2011-05-03 08:28:32

Well Glenn I live in the Northern Virginia suburbs, the best suburbs EVAR Where I get all those aforementioned childhood memories and more.

glennmagusharvey · 2011-05-03 11:58:23

^ You mean basically the exurbs of DC? Kinda like the current 11th congressional district? Sounds like a pretty decent area.

And yeah, what funnyguts said. The nearest shop where I can get food (or something resembling it) is the Walgreens about a 30-minute walk away.

glennmagusharvey · 2011-05-03 11:59:19

Also, Deboss, don't diss the civil engineers; God is one. Why else would he put a recreational facility so close to a sewage expulsion area?

Deboss · 2011-05-03 13:08:03

Considering the shoddy construction quality, I have no issues believing that.

DYRE · 2011-05-05 17:22:55

BUT THEY'RE PRETTY!

...well not really because like half of them aren't taken care of very well...

MousaThe14 · 2011-05-05 18:51:44

Okay I admit, I hated mowing the lawn.

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The suburbs.

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